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AR01055_EMAP_Gazetteer_of_Sites_4-2_10.pdf - The Heritage ...

AR01055_EMAP_Gazetteer_of_Sites_4-2_10.pdf - The Heritage ...

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Dublin<br />

located outside the settlement. <strong>The</strong>ir location would have been deliberate due to the dangers <strong>of</strong> fire<br />

and one <strong>of</strong> these was dated to A.D. 658-779 which was contemporary with the main settlement<br />

phase.<br />

A number <strong>of</strong> hearths were present in the upper fills <strong>of</strong> a ditch to the west <strong>of</strong> the settlement. A date <strong>of</strong><br />

A.D. 803-972 was retrieved from one which indicates this activity occurred after the settlement’s<br />

abandonment.<br />

Finally, a series <strong>of</strong> ditches radiated from the settlement and extended for over 70m around the site.<br />

<strong>The</strong>y are likely to represent further field division and land organisation. <strong>The</strong> total amount <strong>of</strong> land<br />

managed by the farmers and their retainers at Lusk may have been approximately two hectares.<br />

Excavations at Lusk identified an early medieval enclosed farmstead dating between the seventh and<br />

ninth centuries. Its occupants lived centrally within an ordered and highly managed landscape where<br />

fields were divided for both livestock and cereal growing. <strong>The</strong> family residing within the enclosure<br />

practised small-scale ironworking, such as the making and repairing <strong>of</strong> tools, and they lived-<strong>of</strong>f the<br />

produce <strong>of</strong> the surrounding fields. A complete lack <strong>of</strong> artefacts, both dress items and functional<br />

objects, suggests they were people <strong>of</strong> modest means. At some pint during the ninth century, the<br />

enclosure ditches silted-up and the settlement was abandoned for reasons unknown.<br />

Fig. 116: Dun Emer (After Giacometti 2007)<br />

237

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